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Journal of
TURKISH SCIENCE EDUCATION
Volume 5, Issue 3, December 2008
TÜRK FEN EĞİTİMİ DERGİSİ
Yıl 5, Sayı 3, Aralık 2008
http://www.tused.org
Fifth-Grade Elementary School Students’ Conceptions and
Misconceptions about the Fungus Kingdom∗
Nermin BULUNUZ1, Olga S. JARRETT2, Mızrap BULUNUZ3
1
Dr, Uludağ University, Education Faculty, Primary Education, Görükle, Bursa, TURKEY
Associate Prof. Dr, Georgia State University, The College of Education Building, Atlanta, GEORGIA
3
Dr., Uludağ University, Education Faculty, Primary Education, Görükle, Bursa, TURKEY
2
Received: 13.03.2008
Revised: 06.05.2008
Accepted: 15.05.2008
The original language of article is English (v.5, n.3, December 2008, pp.32-46)
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted with four fifth-grade children from a public elementary school. The purpose
was to investigate children’s conceptions and misconceptions about the fungus kingdom both before and after
a teaching intervention, using the interview and observation techniques of qualitative research. At both sets of
interviews, the students were asked questions about molds, yeast, and mushrooms and about their feeding
styles, reproduction, and living conditions. Interviews were tape recorded.
The students received six hours of instruction after the pre-interviews. Student misconceptions before and
after instruction were identified by qualitative analysis of verbatim responses. Results indicated that before
instruction students had many misconceptions like “mold and yeast are not living organisms”, “fungi are
plants”, “fungi mean mushroom” etc. Although they changed most of their misconceptions after the
instruction, they still had conceptions that were inconsistent with the scientific perspective. Children’s
persistent misconceptions, incomplete explanations, and over-generalizations are also discussed in this paper.
Keywords: Elementary Science Education; Conceptions; Misconceptions; Fungus Kingdom; Elementary
School Students
INTRODUCTION
The construction of knowledge in the science class begins with what students know when
they come to class. Studies indicate that children do not come to primary science lessons as a
“Tabula Rasa” but come with rich knowledge about their physical world based on their everyday
experience (Pine, Messer, & St. John, 2001). Posner, Strike, Hewson, and Hewson, (1982)
defined this knowledge as conceptual ecology, a network of concepts interrelated in our head.
According to them, students’ conceptions are organized into interconnected sets of concepts or
ideas and this pre-existing interconnectedness of students’ conceptions helps explain why
instruction so often fails to help students obtain scientifically correct ideas.
∗
Paper presented at the annual conference of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Dallas,
Texas, April 4-7, 2005.
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Research in science education has indicated that students have many ideas that are called
misconceptions that are different from scientific views. People develop these misconceptions
from personal experience, other people, unscientific everyday language, media or textbooks
(Driver, Guesne, & Tiberghien, 1985; Alparslan, Tekkaya, & Geban, 2003). Misconceptions are
deep rooted and difficult to overcome with traditional instruction; many persist even after
students complete and receive high grades in science courses taught by competent instructors
(Mestre, 1991). Driver et al. (1985), assert that the integration and consistent use of new concepts
is a much longer process. To integrate new concepts, children may have to modify the
organization of their ideas. They also stated that children do not adopt new ideas or change their
ideas radically in the period of time usually allocated to a lesson or even to a sequence of lessons.
Research has demonstrated that students also come to class with a series of misconceptions
about biological principles (Nazario, Burrowes, & Rodriguez, 2002). The literature includes
numerous studies related to students’ ideas and misconceptions about plants. In these studies,
sometimes researchers include examples from the fungus kingdom like mushrooms, shelf fungi
or bread mold to elicit beliefs from students. However, hardly any research has been done so far
specifically related to misconceptions about the fungus kingdom. There are research examples in
which students have classified them as “fungi” not as “plants.” For example, in Tunnicliffe and
Reiss (2000), when 5-, 8-, 10-, and 14-years-old children were asked to classify six different
types of plants, one 10-year-old boy categorized the mushroom as “vegetable and fungus”. In the
same study, one 14-year-old girl defined the mushroom as “fungi-different group.”
On the other hand, there is also research in which the students misclassified fungi as plants.
Chen and Ku (1999) found that most of the children from all the grades, especially lower grades,
thought of mushrooms as plants. Because mushrooms and shelf fungi grow on wood, two-thirds
of the children thought them as plants. The children in that study thought that all objects that
grow in soil or on wood (e.g. mushrooms) were plants. In addition, Barman, Stein, Barman, and
Mc Nair (2003), found that most students in their study knew that bread mold wasn’t a plant;
however, half of them misclassified the mushrooms as plants because their structures looked
plant-like.
This research was conducted according to the science curriculum that was accepted in
November 2000 by the Turkish Ministry of National Education (MEB, 2000). In that curriculum
the topic of the fungus kingdom was taught in the unit of “Living organisms and their interactions
with nature.” Similar to other objectives in the 2000 curriculum, the objectives about the fungus
kingdom are also more complex, and scientific process skills are not stated clearly (Pekmez &
Taşkın Can, 2007). The six objectives related to this topic are presented in the following table.
Table 1. 2000 Science Curriculum Objectives Related To the Fungus Kingdom
GRADE
CONTEXT
5
There are both
useful and
harmful fungi
OBJECTIVES
• To become aware of the members of the fungus kingdom that causes molds and some
infectious diseases.
• To recognize some multi-cellular fungi species that might be poisonous and not edible.
• To be able to explain how to protect our food from various types of molds and to learn
molds’ living environments.
• To give examples of the diseases caused by various molds and ways of protection from
these diseases.
• To examine different members of the fungus kingdom by using microscope, magnifying
glass or naked eye.
• To explain physical characteristics of fungi and their reproduction.
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In the case of the current (2004) science and technology curriculum, which was developed
from a contructivist perpective, the topic “fungus kingdom” is still taught at fifth grade level
(MEB, 2005). However, the name of the unit where this topic is taught was changed to “Learning
about the Living World.” In addition to many other differences between the two curricula, in the
2004 curriculum each unit has different topics with various objectives. For example, one unit has
eight different topics. The fungus kingdom has two topics: 1) classification of living organisms
and 2) characteristics of members of the fungus kingdom and their roles in our lives. The
objectives of the unit according to these two topics are listed in Table 2.
Table 2. 2004 Science and Technology Curriculum Objectives Related to the Fungus Kingdom
GRADE
CATEGORIES
According to classification of
living organisms
OBJECTIVES
• To be able to classify living organisms according to their
similarities and differences such as, plants, animals, fungus
kingdom, and microscopic organisms.
5
According to characteristics of
members of the fungus kingdom
and their roles in our lives
• To point out the differences between a mushroom and a flowering
plant.
• To give examples of the various types of fungi after their
observation.
• To test characteristics of the fungus kingdom by making
controlled experiments and to relate the results of these experiments
with daily life.
• To investigate the importance of the fungus kingdom for people.
The 2000 curriculum did not have much emphasis on teaching and learning activities. By
contrast, different teaching and learning activities that guide teachers in a positive way were
presented for each objective in 2004 curriculum (Pekmez & Taşkın Can, 2007). The names of
these teaching and learning activities about the fungus kingdom are: “Is a mushroom a plant?”
“Let’s examine yeast!” Let’s make dough!” “What happened to my bread?” and “Examining a
mushroom and bread mold under magnifying glass.” The program reminds teachers that the most
common misconception among children is that “mushrooms are plants.” Therefore, the classroom
activities are designed to help students understand that mushrooms are not plants or that plants
and fungi are quite different from each other in various aspects. In addition, examining different
examples such as bread, orange, and cheese molds, budding yeast, and rising dough might be
helpful for students to understand that not only mushrooms but also some unicellular organisms
(molds and yeasts) are the members of this kingdom.
Most of the studies that were conducted before 2004 indicated that students in different
cultures have classified mushrooms as “plants” rather than as “fungi” (Barman, et al., 2003; Chen
& Ku, 1999; Nazario et al., 2002; Türkmen, Çardak, & Dikmenli, 2003). This is not surprising
since fungi were classified as plants, because of their cell walls, until the early 1960’s. In 1950
Robert H. Whittaker became the first biologist who proposed adding a fifth kingdom, Kingdom
Fungi, based on fungi’s unique method of obtaining food (Encarta, 2007). It was reported in this
online encyclopedia that Whittaker argued that fungi do not make their own food, as plants do,
and they do not ingest it, as animals do. Rather, fungi secrete digestive enzymes around their
food, breaking it down before absorbing it into their cells. Since then, there is agreement within
biology that the fungus kingdom is a separate kingdom in the classification system (Lewis, 1994;
Victor & Kellough, 1997). It is now known that the cell walls are made of chitin in fungi and of
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cellulose in plants. Therefore, recent molecular evidence strongly suggests that fungi are
probably more closely related to animals that to either plants or protists (Volk, 2000).
Because of the long history of misclassification of fungi as plants, some of the classroom
activities in the current curriculum specifically focus on changing this common student
misconception and improving students’ level of understanding. Also, classification activities can
help students understand where the fungus kingdom actually is in the system of classification.
The purpose of this paper was to determine fifth-grade elementary school students’
conceptions, and misconceptions about the fungus kingdom. Specifically, this paper examines the
following questions: (a) What were the fifth-grade students’ pre-instruction conceptions and
misconceptions of the fungus kingdom? (b) Did fifth-grade students’ misconceptions of the
fungus kingdom change after instruction? and (c) If student misconceptions were not corrected,
what were students’ persistent misconceptions, incomplete explanations, and overgeneralizations?
METHODOLOGY
a) Sample
This study was conducted in a fifth grade classroom at a public elementary school in the
city of Bursa in the academic year 2002-2003. There were 18 boys and 14 girls, 11-12 years of
age, in the class. The classroom teacher selected four (Harun, Betül, Esra, and Oğuzhan) of the 32
students who were representative of the class population based on their academic achievement
(One-high, two-average, one-low). The students’ willingness to talk with the lead researcher (first
author) was another important point that the classroom teacher considered while selecting these
students. Note that Harun, Betül, Esra, and Oğuzhan are all pseudonyms.
b) Role of the Teacher
The classroom teacher demonstrated his interest in this research project. He was willing to
share his classroom for the investigation of students’ conceptions of fungi. In this study, both the
lead researcher and the classroom teacher were responsible for facilitating student learning of the
concepts about the fungus kingdom. While the lead researcher was facilitating the instruction, the
teacher’s role was to manage the class and help the lead researcher during the instruction in the
classroom. The students’ misconceptions and details of the planned intervention were shared with
the classroom teacher after the first interview by the lead researcher. After each class, the lead
researcher and the teacher talked informally about student engagement and whether the students
seemed to understand the lesson. When the teacher noticed problems in understanding, his
concerns got incorporated into the next lesson. Additional informal conversations took place
between the classroom teacher and researcher before and after the instructional lessons. These
conversations allowed evaluation of the previous lesson and also adjusting the next lesson with
him. The teacher and lead researcher benefited from these conversations to meet the needs of all
students in the classroom.
c) Pre and Post Instructional Interviews
This study employed a qualitative methodology to investigate the nature of students’ ideas
about the fungus kingdom. One week before reaching the textbook chapter called “The living
organisms and their interactions with their environment,” the first author conducted the preinstruction interviews. All interviews were taped in a small, quiet room, and lasted 20-30
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minutes. During the individual interviews, all the students were open to the questions and seemed
to share their ideas freely. As the four students were interviewed, the lead researcher listened, and
interpreted the students’ verbatim answers. The intervention instruction was planned according
to the results of the pre-instructional interviews.
A semi-structured protocol was used to interview students about their conceptions regarding
the fungus kingdom. The students answered 15 questions from broad to specific. In a general
sense, the interview questions were determined according to the science curriculum that was
accepted in November 2000 by the Ministry of National Education (MEB, 2000). Also, the
interview questions were consistent with the research questions. The lead researcher first tried to
get the general ideas of the students related to molds, yeast, and mushrooms. After the general
questions, the students were asked specific questions about fungal reproduction, feeding, living
conditions, and classification as poisonous or not poisonous. In addition, the students were asked
to draw pictures of a mold and a fungus. The interviews took place prior to the first lesson and
after the final lesson. Since the lead researcher conducted all the interviews, took notes on student
responses, and coded the responses for misconceptions, internal consistency can be assumed.
Therefore, no interrater reliability was calculated for the questions. The interview questions have
face validity in that they are all questions about fungi and their reproduction, feeding, living
conditions, and classification. For the interview questions see the Appendix.
In addition, pictures of fungi/non-fungi from sources such as science magazines, books,
and Internet based sources were shown to the students. The lead researcher asked each student,
while showing each picture, whether or not it represented a member of the fungus kingdom. The
sources of data were interview audiotapes and drawings.
d) Instructional Context
The instruction on fungi was presented for three weeks (6 class hours), every Monday and
Wednesday (one class time is forty minutes, ten minutes break) in the classroom. The hands-on
activities and the contents for the 6 lessons are as follows:
i) Lesson one: The different types of molds, like orange mold, bread mold, and cheese
mold, were examined by using magnifying lenses both individually and in small groups.
ii) Lesson two: Students studied the reproduction of yeast by budding. By using yeast,
sugar, and warm water, the students prepared their own samples. They observed the budding
activity of yeast under the compound microscope.
iii) Lesson three: Students examined the structure of the “cultivated mushroom” by using
small plastic knives. They dissected the cultivated mushrooms and observed their structures with
magnifying lenses.
iv) Lesson four: Fungus/non-fungus pictures from sources such as science magazines,
books, and Internet based sources, were shown to the students. The lead researcher asked
students, while showing each picture, whether or not it represented a member of the fungus
kingdom.
v) Lesson five: The answer to the question “Why can we not classify the fungus as a
plant?” was discussed with the entire class. The students tried to determine why plants and fungi
are different from each other.
vi) Lesson six: The characteristics of fungi were reviewed via different pictures. The
common differences between poisonous and nonpoisonous mushrooms were discussed in detail.
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FINDINGS
Four students’ pre and post instruction answers to the questions are presented in the
following section.
a) Students’ Conceptions, Misconceptions, Incomplete Explanations, and OverGeneralizations before Instruction
The verbal responses, drawings and observations indicated that the students had some
misconceptions, incomplete explanations and over-generalizations about the fungus kingdom.
They created consistent explanations that made sense according to their beliefs and observations.
Before instruction, the most common misconception was: students were more likely to consider a
fungus to be a plant if it possessed specific characteristics or parts and lived and grew in specific
places. Their drawings showed that mushroom was the only fungus image in their minds. The
following are the most common misconceptions (m), incomplete explanations (ie) and overgeneralizations (og) before instruction:
· Mold and yeast is not alive (m)
· Bread is like a sponge because bacteria can
cause it (m)
· Fungi are plants (m)
· Fungi have roots, stems, and flowers (m)
· Fungi reproduce by their seeds (m)
· Fungi take their food from the soil by their
roots (m)
· Fungi are parasites (og)
· All fungi have caps (og)
· Fungi can grow only in dark and moist
conditions (ie)
Although Harun was selected as the best student in terms of academic achievement, his
verbal responses surprisingly indicated that he had a lot of misconceptions about this topic. He
had no idea about the structures of mold and yeast. He thought that mold is not a living organism.
On the other hand, he was not sure whether yeast is a living organism or not. In addition, he
believed that bacteria produce yeast and cause dough formation. He also thought that fungus is a
kind of plant and reproduces by seeds. He drew a mushroom picture for question 10; however, he
did not answer question 3. (See appendix for questions.) His drawing represents his belief that
fungi have caps and stems with spots on them. See Figure 1.
Betül asserted that yeast was the major factor for dough formation. She defined fungus as a
kind of food and the reason for disease. All other three participants classified fungi as plants.
Betül didn’t know which kingdom fungi belong to. She also said that fungi reproduce asexually
and sexually, and they also take their food from the soil by their roots. Unlike Harun, Betül drew
bread mold with spore sacs on it. See Figure 2.
Figure 1. Harun’s Drawing for Fungi
Figure 2. Betül’s Drawings for Mold and Fungi
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Esra stated that mold is a nonliving thing that forms in moist environments. She heard the
name of yeast from her mother’s experiences; however, she thought yeast was not a living
organism. She could not define the term fungus. She asserted that mushrooms only have stems,
but not roots or leaves. She thought that fungi reproduced sexually, live in sunny environments,
and get food from the soil; however, she provided no clarification for the details of the type of
feeding. She did not answer question 3. For question 9, she drew a mushroom with big spots. See
Figure 3.
Oğuzhan mentioned that bread mold can grow in dry environments. According to him,
“mold” and “yeast” were not living organisms. Although he did not provide any drawing related
to “mold”, his drawing for question 9 was different from the other three students’. He drew some
root-like and leaf-like structures on the stem. He stated that fungi prefer dark and moist
environments to grow, and take their food from the soil by their roots. See Figure 4.
Figure 3. Esra’s Drawing for Fungi
Figure 4. Oğuzhan’s Drawing for Fungi
b) Students’ Correct Conceptions, Misconceptions, Incomplete Explanations and
Over-generalizations after the Instruction
The results of the post-instruction interview showed that the students had changed most of
their misconception; however, they had still some incomplete explanations and overgeneralizations. At the end of the second interview, the lead researcher and teacher determined
that the children had acquired some correct ideas and gained important understandings related to
this topic. For example, they understood that mold and yeast are living organisms and that fungi
are not plants (they don’t have chlorophyll, they can’t make their own food, and they don’t
reproduce by their seeds etc.) On the other hand, they missed the whole picture for some of the
concepts and gave partial conceptions for them. The most common incomplete explanation they
had was that “mushrooms have roots and leaves.” Representative examples of persistent
incomplete explanations and over-generalizations were as follows:
· Molds are green in color (ie)
· Molds are white in color (ie)
· Fungi grow on sunny areas (ie)
· Because of the respiration of yeast, bread
looks like a sponge (ie)
· Mushrooms have roots and leaves (ie)
· Fungi classified as parasites (og)
· Fungus means mushroom (og)
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Harun’s post instructional interview results indicated that, he changed most of his
misconceptions. He provided detailed explanations, scientifically acceptable concepts and
detailed drawings during his interview. Because of the fact that he examined the mold and
dissected the cultivated mushroom during instruction, he could easily draw them. See
figure 5. He was able to define “mold” and “yeast.” He understood that fungi are not
plants. On the other hand, he classified fungi as “parasites.” Harun was the only student
who mentioned “mycelium”, production of CO2 gas during yeast respiration, reproduction
of fungi, and heterotrophic feeding in his answers as well as in his drawings. See Table 3
for Harun’s pre and post instruction concepts.
Table 3. Harun’s Pre and Post Instruction Concepts
QUESTIONS
What is mold?
PRE INSTRUCTION
I don’t know
Is mold living or not?
What is yeast?
Nonliving
Produced by bacteria
Is yeast living or not?
Why do you think bread
is like a sponge?
I don’t know
Because,
bacteria
cause the formation of
dough
It is kind of plant
What is a fungus?
Can you see all fungus
with a naked eye?
What is the structure of
mushroom?
How can you classify
fungi? Plants? Animals?
Or what else?
How do they reproduce?
POST INSTRUCTION
One-celled organism that lives in moist, dark places.
Smells bad, and green in color
Living
One-celled fungus that causes the formation of
“dough”. It also produces CO2 gas while it is
respiring.
It is living
Because CO2 gas is produced during respiration.
No, I can’t.
It can be either a one- celled or multi-cellular
organism. It can be poisonous or nonpoisonous in
nature.
No, I can’t see one-celled fungi with the naked eye.
It has root, and stem.
Flower?
I am not sure.
I don’t know
They don’t have real roots, stem and flowers. They
have “mycelium”, “stalk”, “cap” and “lamella” on
their bodies.
Parasites
With their seeds
They have spore sacs under the lamella of their caps.
With the help of air and water, the spores are
dispersed. When the spores land on soil, they form
hyphae, mycelium and then whole mushrooms.
They prefer dark and moist environments
What
kinds
of
environments are suitable
for them to reproduce?
How do they feed?
I don’t know
Can
you
eat
each
mushroom?
Do you know the
differences between
poisonous and
nonpoisonous fungi?
No, some mushrooms
are poisonous.
I don’t know
I don’t know
They are heterotrophic organisms. They live as a
“parasites”.
No, some mushrooms are poisonous.
We need to eat cultivated mushrooms. Others might
be really poisonous.
It was unexpected that Betül did not change her drawing for question 3 during the
second interview. She drew exactly the same figure as during the first interview. She tried
to differentiate the parts of the mushroom. See figure 6. She changed many of her
misconceptions after instruction; however, she still had some incomplete explanations and
over-generalizations even after instruction. For example, she said “fungus means
mushroom” for question 7. Her answer indicates that her image of “fungus” is one that has
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a cap on the top. She stated that bread is like a sponge because of the yeasts’ respiration
activity. After instruction, she also talked about the digestive enzymes for the feeding of
fungi. For Betül’s pre and post instruction concepts, see Table 4.
Table 4. Betül’s Pre and Post Instruction Concepts
QUESTIONS
What is mold?
PRE INSTRUCTION
I don’t know
Is mold living or not?
Yes, it is living.
What is yeast?
A kind of effect on making
dough
Yes, it is living.
Because of yeast, it is
pretty soft.
It helps the formation of “dough”.
A kind of food, the reason
of disease.
Yes, I can.
Fungus means mushroom
Is yeast living or not?
Why do you think bread is like a
sponge?
What is a fungus?
Can you see all fungus with a
naked eye?
What is the structure of
mushroom?
How can you classify fungi?
Plants? Animals? Or what else?
How do they reproduce?
What kinds of environments are
suitable for them to reproduce?
How do they feed?
Can you eat each mushroom?
Do you know the differences
between poisonous and
nonpoisonous fungi?
It has only stem and root
I don’t know
Sexual and asexually
They reproduce in moist
environments
They take their food from
the soil by their roots.
No, I can only eat organic
mushrooms.
I don’t know
POST INSTRUCTION
White structures on bread on which
moisture is formed.
Yes, it is living.
Yes, it is living.
Because of the respiration of yeast, bread
looks like a sponge.
No, I can’t. Some fungi are one-celled,
some are multi-celled.
They don’t have real root, stems, or
flowers.
“Parasites”
Sexual and asexually
They reproduce in moist and dark
environments. Some grow also in light.
They digest food with the help of digestion
enzymes.
No, wild mushrooms might be very
poisonous. They can kill us.
We always need to ask the professionals
before eating. The healthiest ones are
cultivated mushroom.
Figure 5. Harun’s Drawings for Mold and Fungi Figure 6. Betül’s Drawings for Mold and Fungi
At the second interview, Esra provided very detailed verbal responses to the
questions. She corrected her misconceptions about mold and yeast. She stated that a
mushroom is not a plant and there are also unicellular fungi in nature. See Table 5. for
Esra’ pre and post instruction concepts. Esra drew bread mold and its parts for question 3.
She also showed the detailed structures of a mushroom for question 9. See figure 7.
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Table 5. Esra’s Pre and Post Instruction Concepts
QUESTIONS
What is mold?
Is mold living or not?
PRE INSTRUCTION
They are things that form
in the moist places.
No it is not living.
POST INSTRUCTION
The structures that form in dark and
moist places. Bread mold for example.
Yes, it is living.
What is yeast?
I just heart from my mom.
Is yeast living or not?
Why do you think bread is like a
sponge?
What is a fungus?
No, it is not living
I don’t know.
One celled fungus that causes the
formation of dough.
Yes, it is living
I don’t know.
Can you see all fungus with a
naked eye?
What is the structure of
mushroom?
How can you classify fungi?
Plants? Animals? Or what else?
How do they reproduce?
What kinds of environments are
suitable for them to reproduce?
How do they feed?
No.
Can you eat each mushroom?
No, some of them can be
poisonous.
We need to smell, and look
at the structure.
Do you know the differences
between
poisonous
and
nonpoisonous fungi?
I don’t know.
Mushroom only has a
stem. No root, no leaf…
They are plants.
Sexually
They like sun. Sun is
needed them to grow.
They take food from the
soil.
Some are poisonous, some are not. They
can be either one- celled or multi
cellular.
Some fungus is unicellular. We may
need microscope.
Mushroom has cap and stem.
They are not plants. They are parasites.
Asexually and sexually.
They prefer dark and moist conditions.
They have digestive enzymes. By using
the enzymes, they take the food from the
soil.
Some mushrooms even kill us.
We may examine under the microscope.
Oğuzhan drew the cap, gills, and the stem of mushroom; however, he didn’t name
them. In addition, he could draw bread mold but only showed the spore sacs on the top. In
other words, his second drawings were not as informative as his first ones. See figure 8.
He stated that mold grows on bread if the environment is dry. After instruction, he
changed his mind and said that they also grow in warm and moist conditions. He defined
“yeast” as “one cellular fungus, reproduce by budding.” On the other hand, he still thought
that fungi have roots and leaves. Finally, he was the only student who mentioned that
fungi reproduce asexually, sexually and also by budding. In spite of the fact that all of the
students observed the reproduction of yeast by budding under the microscope, the other
three students didn’t mention it. In Table 6 Oğuzhan’s pre and post instruction concepts
are presented.
Table 6. Oğuzhan’s Pre and Post Instruction Concepts
QUESTIONS
What is mold?
PRE INSTRUCTION
They form on the bread on dry
environments.
No, it is not living.
POST INSTRUCTION
If the room is dark, warm and wet, they can easily
form. They are green in color.
Yes, it is living.
What is yeast?
It helps mom to make dough.
Is yeast living or
not?
No, it is not living.
They are one cellular fungus. They reproduce by
budding.
Yes, it is living.
Is mold living or
not?
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Table 6. Continued..
Why do you think bread is like a
sponge?
What is a fungus?
Because, the dough itself is
soft.
They are saprophytes.
Can you see all fungus with a naked
eye?
Some can be very small to see.
What is the structure of mushroom?
It has root, stem, and flower.
How can you classify fungi? Plants?
Animals? Or what else?
How do they reproduce?
They are plants.
What kinds of environments are
suitable for them to reproduce?
How do they feed?
Dark and moist environments.
Can you eat each mushroom?
Do you know the differences
between poisonous and
nonpoisonous fungi?
I don’t know.
They take food from the soil by
their roots.
No, some of them are
poisonous.
I don’t know but I know that
cultivated mushrooms are safe.
Because, yeast expand when we
put it into the warm conditions.
They can be poisonous, one
celled, and different types of
molds.
Some of them are one celled.
Therefore, we may need
microscope.
It only has root, and stem but no
flower.
They are kind of parasites.
Asexually, sexually, and by
budding.
They need sunny and open
environments to reproduce.
They take food from the soil by
their root-like structures.
No, some can kill us easily.
The colored ones are poisonous.
We need to be careful.
The students conceptualized spore sacs and stems of bread molds for question 3 in
their drawings. On the other hand, cap, gills, and stem were seen as the most distinct
elements for mushroom in their drawings for question 9. See figures 7 and 8.
Figure 7. Esra’s Drawings for Mold and Fungi Figure 8. Oğuzhan’s Drawings for Mold and Fungi
The results of this study showed that fifth–grade students’ understanding of the
fungus kingdom was not complete even after instruction. They did not realize that molds
could occur both green and white. Similarly, their answers did not give any idea that
different members of the fungus kingdom can grow under different conditions. These
conditions do not necessarily have to be dark, moist, or sunny. In spite of the fact that
different examples of fungi, (molds, yeast, athlete foot etc.) were shown to the students
during the instruction, they over-generalized and said “fungi means mushroom” rather
than a mushroom is a kind of fungus. For example, they didn’t give any information
related to uni-celled fungi. Although, the students had seen the yeast example that is not a
parasite, they classified the entire fungus kingdom as parasites.
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43
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Misconceptions are stable and resistant barriers to acquiring scientific perspectives.
Because of the fact that these misconceptions are strong predictors of student achievement
in science, the research that identifies these misconceptions at the elementary school level
can help teachers be aware of their students’ prior knowledge. This study showed that
Turkish elementary classes teaching biological concepts might not correct students’
preconceptions. And, teachers may not be aware of children’s misconceptions. All the
students in this study with different levels of academic achievement had almost the same
types of misconceptions. Even the most successful student in this study had many
misconceptions before special instruction.
The results of this current research study showed that fifth–grade students’
understanding of the fungus kingdom seems to be limited. All four participants incorrectly
classified bread mold as a plant before instruction. Students were more likely to consider a
fungus to be a plant if it possessed specific characteristics or parts, such as roots or stems.
As for mistaking the members of the fungus kingdom, especially mushrooms, for plants,
this was a very common misconception in this study. This finding is consistent with
research in which investigators found half of the students misclassified mushrooms as
plants because structures looked plant-like (Barman, et al., 2003). Consistency with
previous studies suggests that fifth graders need more help in understanding the fungus
kingdom. However, because the study was carried out with only four students, it is
impossible to generalize the results for the all fifth–grade students in Turkey.
The pre-instructional students’ verbal responses showed that the students thought of
mold and yeast as nonliving. In the article cited in Annenberg/CPB (2004), researchers
stated that because plants and fungi don’t move, some children think they aren’t alive. If it
moves, it is alive. Or if it seems to move by itself, it is alive. Nonetheless, both plants and
fungi demonstrate the characteristics of life. Children who consider movement as a
requirement for life may hold this idea. In this case animals may be considered to be the
only things that are alive.
The students had a difficulty linking anatomical features they observed to where
fungi live and to the adaptations they show. This may show the effects of emphasis in
much of biology teaching on naming and categorizing organisms in isolation from their
habitats and from their species.
Although they have changed most of their misconceptions after the instruction,
students still had incomplete explanations and over-generalizations. One of the limitations
of this study was that the time for the research instruction was limited. With more than 6
hours of instruction, learning results might have been greater. Another limitation of the
study was that as a conceptual change strategy only hands-on activities were used during
the instruction. Other conceptual change strategies, such as concept mapping, conceptual
change texts, analogies, and computer-based programs, might also have been used to
change the students’ incorrect understandings. For any further study, these additional
strategies could be used to overcome misconceptions in this area.
SUGGESTIONS
The following are suggested based on the findings of this study:
a) Strengthen the Discrimination of Fungi from Plants
The results of the present study showed that there was considerable ambiguity
between concepts regarding plants and fungi. In order to reduce the chance of
Bulunuz, Jarrett & Bulunuz / TÜFED-TUSED/ 5(3) 2008
44
misconceptions, elementary school teachers need to make sure that children understand
the scope and limits of concepts about fungi, and put more emphasis on life processes as
well as fungal attributes, so that students will not over generalize and conclude that fungi
(especially mushrooms) are also plants.
b) Enhance Teaching of the Critical Attributes of the “Fungus” Concept
The children had a lack of understanding that fungi cannot make food by themselves,
unlike plants. Therefore, if teachers can emphasize the importance of autotrophic feeding,
giving children the opportunity for comprehension and application, then not only can the
misconception that fungi are plants be eliminated, but children’s future understanding of
the producer/consumer concept about ecological systems will be improved.
c) Increase Learning of Recognizing Fungi
In order to strengthen the impact of school teaching, elementary school teachers
should provide children more opportunities to recognize the fungus kingdom in school and
community settings. They might help children observe more carefully and with greater
precision. Many biological concepts are very abstract and therefore difficult for children
to imagine and represent. Visualization can provide students with cognitive aids that make
abstract biological ideas more comprehensible. For this purpose, demonstrations, pictures,
preserved specimens, and Internet based sources might be useful to make students’
understandings of biological concepts meaningful. Field trips might be another way for
them to recognize the organisms in their specific ecological niches. In addition, using a
combination of several models and assessment techniques depending on the topics might
be helpful for teachers to overcome the persistent misconceptions. Teachers should also be
explicitly aware of their students’ prior knowledge and misconceptions and should
examine why misconceptions occur.
Further, the students’ stable, incomplete explanations and generalizations showed
that the concepts the lead researcher tried to teach might be too technical for fifth-graders.
This might be the reason that the students had difficulty absorbing the whole terminology
about the fungus kingdom. Perhaps this topic should be taught at a higher grade level.
However, since the current 2004 science and technology curriculum is based on
constructivist approaches and has more hands-on activities than the previous curriculum,
perhaps students at the fifth grade level will develop better understanding of difficult
concepts such as the nature of fungi. Additional research is needed to see what fifth grade
students know since the 2004 science curriculum was accepted.
Acknowledgements: Especially, we would like to thank to Harun, Betül, Esra, and Oğuzhan for enthusiasm,
time, and effort in this research. Also, many thanks to the classroom teacher and the
rest of the students who participated to the hands-on activities during the six hours of
the instruction process.
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45
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APPENDIX
The interview questions:
A) 1) What is mold?
2) Is mold living or not?
3) Can you visualize “mold” and draw a picture of it?
B) 4) What is yeast? and
5) Is yeast living or not?
6) Why do you think bread is like a sponge?
C) 7) What is a fungus?
8) Can you see all fungi with a naked eye?
9) What is the structure of a fungus?
10) Can you visualize a “fungus” and draw a picture of it?
11) How can you classify fungi? Plants? Animals? Or what else?
12) How do they reproduce?
13) What kind of environments is suitable for them to reproduce?
14) How do they feed?
15) Can you eat each mushroom?
16) If the answer is “No” for the item 15, Do you know the differences between
poisonous and nonpoisonous fungi?